Lisseth Gavilán

Hubble Heritage Intern: Summer 2005
Carleton College, MN

Being one of the STScI 2005 summer students and
working with the Hubble Heritage team is a thrilling
and rewarding opportunity. That is why I came to
Baltimore all the way from Northfield, Minnesota,
where I had just finished my sophomore year and
declared a major in physics with a concentration
in educational studies at Carleton College. While
at Carleton, I work for the community service organization
(called ACT) where I am in charge of publicity and
its website.

Despite the fact that Peru, my home country, has
underdeveloped technologies in public universities
and schools, science has always surrounded me. Both
my parents majored in electronic engineering, yet
my mother publishes Peruvian history books and my
father is a high school math teacher. My parents'
love of science had always been contagious and since
middle school, I have had fond memories of my dad
talking about Maxwell's equations as opportunities
to have science classes in middle school were limited.

After receiving a scholarship to attend the British
high school Markham College, in Lima, I was able
to fulfill this initial curiosity. My interest in
the physical sciences developed further when I entered
the International Baccalaureate diploma programme
there. This programme required taking three advanced,
higher-level courses. I had my first go at science
classes there and chose chemistry, physics and mathematics.
I realized that I was into astrophysics and optics
while taking the special options offered in IB higher-level
physics.

Apart from what I learned during the
IB programme, I was also very inspired by one of
the extracurricular clubs I was part of, the Duke
of Edinburgh's international award. For that activity,
we had to lead and plan intense hikes to the Peruvian
Andes. A classmate also carried a telescope from
the school and at night, having a clear sky, we
could get remarkable sights of the dense Milky Way
and southern sky constellations. I discovered how
fascinating sky watching could be. This is one of
the factors that led me to join the physics and
astronomy department at Carleton, where I was admitted
as a Kellogg international scholar.

The sky from the Andes mountains

Last year I organized lessons for
the Math and Science Girl Scout day, preparing materials
on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. After
the summer with the Heritage team I will be working
on a special project leading to the enhancement
of Carleton's Goodsell Observatory’s website
and learning tools at the college.

Apart from hikes and science, I enjoy visiting
my family, music, poetry and photography. I plan
to pursue a PhD after I obtain my BA, either in
Science Education or Physics. I also hope to bring
back some of these skills to my home country, where
the communication of science to the public has been
overlooked for a long time.